NEW DELHI: An Indian airstrike in Pakistani territory killed 300 suspected militants, a senior Indian government source said on Tuesday.
Foreign Minister Sushma on Wednesday raised the recent Pulwama suicide attack in her crucial bilateral meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi here, a day after India destroyed a major Jaish-e-Muhammed terror training camp in Pakistan.
India sent fighter jets across the Line of Control, the unofficial border that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, for the first time since 1971.
The strike took place near the town of Balakot, just inside the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and not in the disputed Kashmir region.
Balakot is about 60 km north of Abottabad, the hideout of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed there by US forces in May 2011.
Jaish-e-Muhammad asserted responsibility for an attack on Feb. 14 that killed 40 Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir.
The attack was the deadliest in three decades of insurgency against Indian rule, and PM Narendra Modi had vowed to respond.
The planes dropped bombs outside the town of Balakot, about 40 miles into Pakistani territory.Pakistani PM Imran Khan called an emergency meeting of top security and government officials.
India’s foreign secretary, Vijay Gokhale, told reporters that the strike “eliminated” a “large number” of militants at a Jaish-e-Muhammad training camp.
Vijay Gokhale said the operation was based on “credible intelligence” that the group was planning more attacks.
PM Modi Tuesday said the country is in safe hands and that he will not let the country down. The prime minister stressed that nothing was above the nation.
As the news spread about the air strikes, the entire nation erupted in joy. There were scenes of celebrations across the country with people took to streets holding Tiranga, chanting slogans like ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, ‘Hindustan Zindabad’, bursting firecrackers.
